Birthday

Are you a bad parent if you wake up one day and say “gosh…It’s my kid’s birthday” Or in our case if you realize that you have photography class and boy scouts scheduled for your child’s actual birthday and neither of those activities involves the birthday child. And you notice on the calendar that the whole week is pretty much booked…..so you decide to celebrate on a random Sunday afternoon? Yeah that’s what I thought.

Are you a good parent if you spend the entire day making a “from scratch” birthday cake, and real buttercream icing (the kind made with egg whites and boiling sugar syrup) only to have your children spit out the results because their palettes are decidedly less mature than yours…so you make another recipe of icing, which the children like, so they eat so much that by the time you have completed the cake they are no longer interested in having any….Yeah, that’s what I thought.



The Birthday Girl age 6



Pneumonia can't stop me from blowing out my candles

Thanks for sharing your presents with me

 

The webkinz my brother got me

Laughing at Auntie Sue's card

Soccer

Whew..... it was a sweaty 92 degrees on the soccer field today....yet somehow I think we will be freezing on that field by the end of the season.

"T" didn't feel up to playing today but I got some good photos of "J"

The first photo is of the fields...there are games going on everywhere usually 6 or more at a time running from about 10:00 till 6:00.

North Carolina

We had a nice visit with the grandparents last weekend. Here are a few highlights.

Eating icecream on top of Pilot Mountain

The “KNOB” and a Lovely view from the top of the mountain

Picnic-ish

Kids Museum… please note that grandpa had as much fun as the kids

Kids Museum

“D”s company sponsored an exhibit at the kids museum and for one day the museum was closed to the public so that employees and their families could visit. It was nice to have the often crowded museum almost entirely to ourselves.

History Museum

But Wait There's More

These are photos from our trip that I took with my phone. Due to a software glitch I was just able to download them.

Chattanooga Farmers Market



Aquarium Gift Shop and boy was I relieved that "J" mostly wanted to have her photo taken with all the merchandise instead of buying it.


We went to Ben and Jerry's and my kids both got vanilla

Labor Day Part 3

Alternately titled "I’m Tired" Or "Vacations With Kids Are Labor"


We visited the Chattanooga zoo. I don’t have any photos because there was not really anything worth photographing aside from the carousel. If you want my further opinion on this feel free to check out Trip Advisor.

Best Attraction at the Zoo



Then we decided to go Full-Out-Tourist and ride the Incline Railway. I was a little afraid….but everyone one else was excited for this mile long trip up the face of Look Out Mountain. I’ll admit it wasn’t bad, mostly because I didn’t open my eyes.

Look everyone I have the Magic Power to annoy my sister


View of Chattanooga from Look Out Mountain




What...we have to walk through the gift shop if we want to ride back down the mountain.....

Labor Day-Day 2

Today we visited the “kid’s” museum. I'm noticing that our kids are just starting to outgrow these sorts of attractions. They have lost their toddler like fascination for the world replacing it with more practical matters like video games, and Sketchers. They did however manage to stay busy at the museum for almost three hours. I'd like to say Mom and Dad were by their side playing and interacting the whole time. Well SOME parents were doing that. We however, were sitting on the nearest bench reading the New York Times on our iPhones. Ahhhh…..Technology sweet technology.

Climbing Fun


Giant "Operation"


"J" learns about "snot"


"J" climbs the wall of skin


Intent on Art


Dr. "T" at your service


The irony of "T" teaching proper brushing is not lost on me.


Face Painting....


....best left to the professionals